ERIC Number: EJ1204196
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Feb
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Individual Differences in Learning Social and Nonsocial Network Structures
Tompson, Steven H.; Kahn, Ari E.; Falk, Emily B.; Vettel, Jean M.; Bassett, Danielle S.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v45 n2 p253-271 Feb 2019
How do people acquire knowledge about which individuals belong to different cliques or communities? And to what extent does this learning process differ from the process of learning higher-order information about complex associations between nonsocial bits of information? Here, the authors use a paradigm in which the order of stimulus presentation forms temporal associations between the stimuli, collectively constituting a complex network. They examined individual differences in the ability to learn community structure of networks composed of social versus nonsocial stimuli. Although participants were able to learn community structure of both social and nonsocial networks, their performance in social network learning was uncorrelated with their performance in nonsocial network learning. In addition, social traits, including social orientation and perspective-taking, uniquely predicted the learning of social community structure but not the learning of nonsocial community structure. Taken together, the results suggest that the process of learning higher-order community structure in social networks is partially distinct from the process of learning higher-order community structure in nonsocial networks. The study design provides a promising approach to identify neurophysiological drivers of social network versus nonsocial network learning, extending knowledge about the impact of individual differences on these learning processes.
Descriptors: Individual Differences, Social Networks, Social Cognition, Network Analysis, Learning Processes, College Students
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF); US Army Research Laboratory (ARL); John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; US Army Research Office (ARO); National Institutes of Health (DHHS); Office of Naval Research (ONR); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (DOD)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: CAREERPHY1554488; W911NF1020022; W911NF1410679; 2R01DC00920911; 1R01HD08688801; R01MH107235; R01MH107703; R01MH109520; 1R01NS099348; R21MMH106799; BCS1441502; BCS1631550; CNS1626008; 1DP2DA03515601; D14AP00048
Author Affiliations: N/A